Conditions experienced as a Japanese prisoner of war from a medical point of view.

NORTH Point Camp was situated on the Island of Hong Kong, about two miles to the East of Lyeman Gap on the water front. The Camp consisted of a number of wooden huts originally built for. the housing of Chinese internees. The Japanese landing on Hong Kong Island occurred in this area and, as a result, the huts and other buildings were considerably damaged by shell fire. The whole of the" Stanley " garrison was, in January, living in the Camp, consisting of about 3,000 British, Canadian and Indian troops. Sanitary conditions were unbelievably bad. During the fighting in Hong Kong, it appeared that the area had been used as a rubbish dump first by the British and later by the Japanese who had also stabled horses in the Camp. A mass of rubbish, six feet high and covering an area of several hundred square feet, was deposited outside the Camp. The whole area was thick with flies, whilst the latrines and wash-houses were still choked with freces in spite of continuous cleaning operations. Water was being drawn from a stream a short distance from the Camp. Living accommodation was primitive, the men being crowded into huts already damaged by shell fire. These huts, designed to accommodate thirty or forty men, were in several cases occupied by as many as a hundred and twenty. For the first three weeks the diet was good,permission being granted by the Japanese for parties to collect food from R.A.S.C. dumps on the Island. At the end of this period, however, supplies ran short, partly due to the fact that the Japanese ordered the removal of all stocks in Camp. The diet then .consisted of rice, vegetables and fish. Quantities were adequate but skill in the preparation of Oriental food had not, in those early days, been achieved. A fair. quantity of medical supplies were found in the camp, whilst, during the first few weeks, it was permitted to take seriously ill cases to the British Military Hospital, where urgently needed drugs could still be obtained.. Efforts were made to combat the latrine and fly problem. The camp was eventually put into a state of comparative cleanliness and attempts made at the control of flies by killing and trapping. Gauze cone type fly traps were constructed from odd materials available. These were. a great success, flies being caught in them and measured, when killed, ,literally …